Hurt
by KickPrevails
Summary: Neglect, rejection, loneliness... these were all things Maya dealt with every day. She never understood how Riley could always be so smiley, and she wanted nothing more than for Riley to feel the pain that she goes through. Maya plans to make sure Riley's just as damaged as she always is, without realizing that her actions towards Riley are turning her into a monster herself...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi guys! Well, GMW is certainly a fun show to write about, and this awful idea of mine came up out of nowhere.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned GMW, this would have happened. Just kidding, I'll cry if this ever happens on the show.**

* * *

Maya undeniably had a hard life. She was the damsel in distress, the broken glass that could only be fixed with super glue.

Riley was the super glue.

It took Maya a while to realize how dependent she was on others. Ever since her receiving of the "cool" award, she'd been called independent by everyone she knew.

Until Missy Bradford came along.

Maya stood up for herself, as always, until Missy told her she was too reliant on Riley for everything.

She denied it at school and shot something back at Missy like she always would, but when she got home, she realized just how right Missy was.

Family issues? She's always go to Riley. Boy issues? To Riley. Any other issues? Riley. Riley was her vent, her counselor of some sort.

And Riley always made it right.

She wanted to be grateful, but all she really could be when thinking about it was angry.

She was angry that Riley was so nice and sweet and helpful and she could never be. She was mad that Riley always sympathized with her without knowing the true feeling of neglect, rejection, or loneliness.

Maya couldn't take it anymore. She got more upset with Riley each day. She didn't want to be the person who depended on Riley all the time. She wanted Riley to depend on her. She wanted Riley to experience what she had to day by day.

Maybe if that happened, she wouldn't be angry at Riley anymore. Sure, Maya was fourteen, and you'd think the average fourteen-year-old could tell a good plan from a stupid one.

Maya couldn't even think that way, however. She was angry, and anger makes you reckless and stupid.

So Maya came up with a plan to help Riley understand.

This would require a lot of meddling.

~.x.x.x.~

"Riley," Lucas said.

"Lucas!" Riley responded. She giddily ran over to him, slowing to a walk when she was closer.

Maya, behind Riley, took a deep breath. She was about to start with phase one of her plan. This was going to be good.

"Riley, can I talk to Lucas alone for a minute?" Maya said.

"Oh…" Riley said. "Uh, sure! I'll, um, go see Farkle." With that, Riley began to walk away. Lucas shot a confused look at her, but she just shrugged, finding Farkle and leaning onto his desk.

"Come here, Cowboy," Maya said, gesturing towards the almost empty hallway. Still confused, Lucas followed suit.

When they were out of earshot, Maya began to talk.

"You like Riley?"

Lucas raised his eyebrows at her sudden question and statement. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it, trying to find the right words.

"It's kinda obvious. You go up to her whenever you can, you always smile when she's around, and a certain Farkle also brought up that you talk about her a lot."

Lucas frowned at the ground.

"Dang it, Farkle!" he murmured.

"So you do, how cute," Maya said with a fake smile. "Just so you know, Riley doesn't feel the same way."

"Really?" Lucas said with a sad expression plastered onto his face.

"Yeah. I don't think you know her the way I do. She uses so many guys to get what she wants. She saw you as another pretty face and attractive body and acted all sweet to get you to like her."

"That can't be right," Lucas said, his voice catching in his throat.

"Oh, but it is. She was going to actually ask you out later on today so you could hang out at her house and… well, you know…" Maya shuddered.

Lucas now looked insulted and kind of angry.

"Maya, I don't know why you'd lie about something like this, but it's really sick. Riley would never use a bunch of guys for that, she's too innocent. I'm gonna go." Lucas turned and walked back into the classroom.

Maya felt strangely unlike herself, but she also felt a pleasure too. She hadn't stopped to even consider how terrible she was being. She just needed Riley to feel empty like she always was.

She'd find a way to turn this around. She was really smart, after all. Smarter than she was ever given credit for.

~.x.x.x.~

Around lunchtime, Maya spotted Riley heading over to Lucas and Farkle, tray in hand. She grabbed Riley by the elbow and pulled her to a table in the corner.

"But Mayaaa, Lucaaas!" Riley groaned with her sad eyes. Maya felt herself start to get annoyed by Riley's obnoxious voice and expression.

"Little plant, we need to have a talk," Maya said.

They both sat down at the empty, barren table, and Maya began chatting away.

"I think you should ask out Lucas. Today," she said.

Riley dropped the sandwich she was holding back onto her tray.

"W-what? I couldn't do that! He'd say no, Maya," Riley whined.

"Remember when I pulled Lucas out of the room earlier today?" Maya said. "I did it to see if he liked you. He does."

"A-are you serious?" Riley said, her face lighting up at the instant. Maya enthusiastically nodded, being proud that she didn't have to lie entirely to her best friend.

"He's too scared to ask you out, but I know he'd accept if you did it."

"Wait, if he likes me, why would he be too scared?"

"I didn't tell him you liked him back. But now you know he likes you back so you have the advantage. You have to do it, Riles."

Riley nodded, confidence sparking in her eyes.

"Where would he and I go?"

"Maybe your house? You guys could watch some movies on the couch, talk and maybe cuddle a little. You'd have fun."

Riley looked up, seemingly pondering the situation. She turned back to Maya, a glint of curiosity in her eyes.

"Okay, but why today?"

"Because didn't you tell me that your parents were taking Auggie to a birthday party tonight? That would mean a chance alone with Lucas."

Riley's face flushed. "I don't know if I'm ready for that."

"You don't have to be. I'm just sure that you'd like it a lot more if you were alone with him then if your parents were over your shoulder the whole time. Besides, Lucas respects you. He wouldn't do anything you weren't comfortable with.

"That's true…" Riley nodded. She looked up at Maya with a smile. "Okay, I'll ask him later on!"

"Good girl!" Maya said.

"Um, but Maya… Would you mind coming with me when I ask him? I don't want to do it alone," Riley said.

"I don't mind at all, I'm here for any support you need," Maya said, smiling. Riley giggled and bounced up and down.

"Now, let's finish up our lunch, because you wouldn't want to talk to your dream guy on an empty stomach!"

Riley nodded eagerly and began stuffing her face with her food. Maya chuckled.

This was going to be a lot easier than she'd planned.

~.x.x.x.~

Lucas had approached Riley at her locker.

"Oh, hi Lucas!" Riley said, blushing slightly as she shoved some notebooks into her locker.

"Hey Riley," he said, smiling. He leaned against some nearby lockers, watching her place books in her locker and exchange others out.

Maya appeared at Riley's side as she closed her locker. Lucas's look of happiness changed to disgust.

"Maya, I need to talk to you for a second," Riley said, pulling her best friend a few feet away from Lucas. Once they were out of earshot, Riley began sputtering.

"Oh, Maya, I can't do it!"

"Shh, yes you can. Just suck it up, go over there, and ask him if he wants to hang at your place later on. It's not that hard," Maya said.

Riley breathed in and out slowly.

"Okay, I can do it."

She walked back over to Lucas, Maya on her heels.

"Um, Lucas, I have something I want to ask you," Riley said.

Lucas's expression changed, remembering that Maya mentioned Riley would ask him out today.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Well, I was wondering if you maybe wanted to come over to my house later, like on a date? We could, umm, watch some movies… and, oh! My parents won't be there, so, you know, yeah," Riley said, looking down in embarrassment in her speech.

Lucas raised his eyebrows and furrowed them, looking at Maya. She mouthed, "I told you," to him. Lucas's mouth opened slightly in shock. Could he have been this wrong about Riley?

He shook his head in anger, realizing that Maya was right. She _was_ just using him for the wrong reasons like she did a bunch of other guys.

"That's messed up," he said to Riley, who looked back up at him in shock.

"What?"

"No way in hell am I going to just be your playboy. Stay away from me," he said, walking away.

Riley watched him walk off, eyes stinging with tears. His words felt like stab wounds. She turned to Maya, who was faking a sad expression.

"Come here," she said.

Riley fell into her arms and sobbed into her shoulder.

"Shh, it's okay… now you know how I've felt…"

Maya smiled. For some reason, she felt this refreshing. She loved the fact that this wasn't even the half of it. Riley had a lot more coming for her.

* * *

**Well this was pretty hard for me to write.**

**Please review and tell me your thoughts on the chapter! Please also tell me if you want me to continue or not. I probably won't continue the story unless you guys want me to.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you guys so much for the follows, favorites, and, especially, reviews! You don't know how much it means to know you like the story. I'll be continuing with no doubt. You guys are amazing!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned GMW, it would air every week, not just a few weeks with a break.**

* * *

Maya _was_ going to put Riley through more.

She _was_ going to introduce her to the feeling of loneliness, the feeling of your parents not being there when you needed them.

Maya dealt with it, so Riley should too.

She was thinking of a way to make it so, that is, until school started on Monday.

This was the next school day after the incident with Riley and Lucas, which was last Friday. Though reassuring Riley through texts with support, Maya refused to go to her house.

She felt bad having to look Riley straight in the eye, knowing she was the cause of Lucas's rejection.

Maya, honestly, had no idea what to expect on Monday, but Lucas to be avoiding Riley. She was stupid for expecting Riley to have recovered, even if it was a little.

No, Riley had been crushing on this boy for months on end by now. How could she think Riley was all better?

She hadn't buzzed in at Riley's house like she normally did each morning. She made sure to avoid her at all costs on the subway. She must have done a very good job because she didn't see Riley anywhere.

She entered the school, found her locker, grabbed her bag out of it and made her way to Mr. Matthew's class. As always, some students were already there, but Cory himself wasn't.

She sat at her desk in the front but couldn't help hearing a distant chatter in the hallway near the door. She was only able to make out a few words, however.

"Did you hear?... Riley Matthews… SLUT!" And a bunch of giggling followed. Maya ignored it.

It was then that Maya realized what an awful best friend she was.

These girls were talking badly about her best friend, and she was letting them.

Yes, she was the cause of this rumor to even start, but she had to attempt to convince herself that she wasn't in order to be a true friend to Riley again.

So she pushed anything that she'd done in the past week out of her mind, stood up, and treaded over to the group of girls.

"What are you talking about?" Maya asked casually. One of the girls that Maya recognized to be on the cheerleading squad gave her a disgusted look.

"Um, who gave you a right to talk to me?"

"What she means is," a pretty Asian girl interrupted. "Shouldn't you know already? Aren't you Riley's best friend?"

Maya shook away her guilt and spoke.

"She didn't talk to me over the weekend. Why, did something happen?"

The group of girls continued to stare at Maya, then broke out in another fit of giggles.

"Well, your _friend_ has been flaunting her body off at the boys here. Like Lucas," a blonde girl said. "Jack from the baseball team told Chelsea from cheerleading. Poor guy!"

"I think you should tame her," the cheerleader giggled.

"Well," Maya said. "_I_ think _you_ should keep your big nose out of other people's lives because you don't know what they go through."

Maya turned before a response could be given and rushed back into the room.

Once in her seat again, Maya began thinking of how the rumor could have gotten around. Sure, she did want Riley to feel how she had to feel, but she didn't intend for it to go all around the school.

Remembering what the blonde girl had said about someone on the baseball team telling a cheerleader, she concluded–very thoroughly, at that–that Lucas had told Billy, Billy had told the baseball team, the baseball team had told the cheerleaders, and the cheerleaders had told, well, everyone.

Maya felt worse and worse as more and more people filled the room. She was scared of what people would say about Riley, of what people would do to Riley. Her innocent, bubbly best friend could turn into a closed-off, exposed target.

And it would be all Maya's fault.

Maya shook of the feeling and knew that as long as she stayed uninvolved with Riley, she wouldn't feel as bad.

But how could she be uninvolved? It was her best friend!

Maya pictured a miniature angel popping up on her left shoulder and a devil popping up on her right.

_Just don't get involved. You did say Riley had to fight her own battles sometime, right? Now she has to learn to grow up, just like you had to so early._ The devil's voice rang in her ears as she nodded.

_Get involved, not being involved would be selfish! "Oh, hey, I'm going to let my best friend suffer just so I can finally feel good about myself!" who does that?! A monster. That's who does that. You're not a monster, Maya, so don't become one._

Both creatures disappeared from her shoulders as Riley entered the room.

Immediately, all chatter was silenced. Everyone was staring at Riley–well, everyone except for Lucas. As if wanting her dad to come to make it all stop, she turned back towards the hall, hoping to see Cory standing there with open arms.

Instead, laughter was heard behind her.

Her eyebrows curved up in sadness as she turned back into the classroom, finding her seat and sitting down.

Farkle, sitting behind her, hadn't been talking to her. Maya figured Lucas must have told him all about the moment last Friday. Farkle probably made a vow not to speak to Riley.

But, he still slowly and carefully removed the sign that read "slut" from Riley's back, so quietly that she wouldn't even notice he did it.

She didn't seem to notice it was there in the first place, after all.

Riley felt eyes on her back, but she tried her best to ignore them, staring in a straight line towards the front of the room. The laughter and feeling of staring stopped suddenly when Cory entered the room.

"Okay, class, we won't be using our textbooks much today. This is just going to be a lecture. Though this occurred quite a bit in history, I'm going to start by talking to you all about it first. Because this not only happened in wars, but it happens every day, in life and friendships around us.

"Who here has experienced betrayal?"

~.x.x.x.~

The day played out very roughly for both Riley and Maya. Riley was followed by some laughing groups of girls, which she just blatantly ignored.

Maya was shaken for the entire day because of Cory's lesson. He was so thorough in his thoughts and opinions, and it made her feel like the guiltiest person on the planet. She had betrayed Riley, after all, and for some reason, she was only worrying that Cory knew what she'd done.

She shrugged it off as the final bell rang, signaling the leave of the students. Maya slowly packed up, found her locker, and, as she did daily, shoved her bag into the locker, picking up her homework folder and making her way towards the exit.

Nearby, however, she saw Riley and Lucas chattering near the front door. She stopped in the middle of the hall to listen.

"That's not why I asked you at all! Maya told me to! It's because I've liked you for so long and she said I had to have the courage!"

"Well I was told that you only asked me out for sex like you did a bunch of other guys!"

Riley's muscles tensed up and she retreated slowly.

"I could never," she said softly. "Who told you that?! Who could be so awful–"

Riley stopped speaking as Lucas stared at Maya. Maya knew she was in trouble then.

"She did," Lucas said, gesturing towards her. Riley followed Lucas's finger to Maya.

Maya would never be able to forget Riley's scarred expression. Her eyes grew wide and teary, her mouth was agape slightly, and she was shaking.

Maya shook her head, now fully realizing her mistake. She approached Riley, now more sympathetic than ever.

"Oh, Riles, I'm so–"

"How… could… you?!" Riley cried, tears finally spilling over her eyes. Her tone wasn't angry, nor sad–it was hurt. She ran out of the school in a rush.

Maya was set on going after her, but Lucas's glare stopped her.

"I was right," he grumbled. "You _are_ sick."

He was the one to rush after Riley, leaving Maya a shocked, broken mess. She shook her head, covered her ears, and ran to the girl's bathroom for a few minutes of cover.

Once she saw that it was empty, she cried.

* * *

**I'm sorry if there are any spelling or grammatical errors of any sort, I just wanted to get this chapter out to you guys as quickly as I could!**

**Please tell me your thoughts on this chapter!**

**(Also, what couples would you like to see in this story? Riley and Lucas, Maya and Lucas, Riley and Farkle, Maya and Josh, none - I'd love to hear your inputs!)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm sorry for the lack of updates! School's been hectic and it's been nearly impossible to write anything throughout the school week.**

**But coming back to 13 extremely sweet reviews is amazing! Thank you guys. Your support is what's driving me to continue.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned GMW, Cory would always be in a banana suit. Don't ask.**

* * *

It didn't take too long for Lucas to catch up with Riley. He was an athlete, after all.

He had caught up to her in a clear field of grass in between the school and the townhouses ahead that led to the subway. Not many students crossed this field on a daily basis besides Riley, Lucas and Maya—they concluded they were the only ones who rode the subway. That probably wasn't true, but it seemed that way.

"Riley, stop," Lucas shouted, panting as he continued to run inches on her tail. She didn't stop, however, which led to her stepping too shortly and tripping on the ground. She fell onto the muddy grass and groaned, not wanting to get back up.

Lucas found her fallen body and stopped running. He lowered himself on the ground next to her.

"Whenever you're in the mood to sit up, I wanna talk," he said, sliding his bag off of his back and onto the ground behind him.

As he waited for Riley to show any signs of being alive, he couldn't help but eye her. She was a beautiful girl, classy, thin body and healthy hair. Even after whatever had happened, he couldn't ever think of her any less beautiful than she always was to him. He continued to beat himself up over the fact that some of her pain was his fault for telling Billy what had happened.

Soon, Riley pushed herself up, taking off her bookbag and brushing off her pink sweater. She sat next to Lucas but didn't make eye contact.

Lucas turned to her.

"I'm not Mr. Perfect…" he started. Riley jumped a little in alert of his sudden speech, but still didn't look at him. "I'm really not at all. I wish I was, though, because if I was Mr. Perfect, I could've changed everything so I didn't believe Maya when she said what she said…"

He lightly grasped Riley's arm, turning her towards him as he faced her.

"I'm sorry, Riles. I was an idiot. Everyone at the school should be attacking me, not you."

"I thought," she said. "I thought you liked me. Maya was lying to me, of course, but I thought, even if you didn't like me, you still valued my friendship enough to _trust_ me…"

"Hey," Lucas said. "I do like you, I do. Even before all of this, I did. I just–"

"You don't have to lie, Lucas…" Riley said, standing up. "If you liked me, you wouldn't have done that. I wouldn't have done that. I… I'm going. Bye."

Riley picked up her stuff and began to walk from the field.

"C'mon Riley, wait, please," Lucas called after her, only resulting in her walking faster. Lucas groaned, rolled over onto the grass, and sighed, watching the clouds begin to cry.

"I feel the same," Lucas said absentmindedly to the sky, as rain soaked his white V-neck.

~.x.x.x.~

"I'm so stupid…" Maya repeated over and over to herself. Though it was the end of the day and girls in clubs tended to use the restroom beforehand, the bathroom was empty. Maya had taken this liberty to lock herself in the biggest stall at the far side of the restroom.

Maya didn't know what to think. She hadn't thought of the consequences to her rash actions before doing them. Anger had controlled her and had dug her into a hole that she couldn't escape from. Why didn't she see this coming?

"I feel like I'm going crazy…" Maya muttered to herself. And she did. She was convinced now more than ever that something was very wrong with her. Why else would she have done what she did? She was technically still a kid, and a confused one at that—she'd messed up and didn't know how to fix it. She just didn't understand.

After a while, she knew she'd have to get up and go home. She didn't want to ride the subway with Riley and Lucas doing the same, but she soon realized she couldn't anyway. Checking her watch, she saw the time was 4:08 (school dismisses at 3:30, exactly how long had she been hiding?) and the subway left at 4:00, meaning she'd have to wait around another hour and a half for the subway to get back.

Figuring she might as well head over to the subway station now, she left the bathroom and headed into the hall, quickly taking notice that it was raining—very heavily, at that. She sighed, realizing she had nothing to cover her and that she was about to get soaked. Bracing herself, she began to head towards the door—

"Maya?"

Maya quickly turned at the sound of her name to see Farkle, squirrelly little Farkle.

"What are you still doing here?" Farkle asked.

"Tutoring," Maya lied. "Why are _you_ here?"

"AV club let out early, I was about to go. My mom's waiting outside."

Maya gave a short nod.

"Well, I have to get to the subway. Do you may be have a spare turtleneck I can use to cover my head or something?"

Farkle looked at the ceiling in a ponderous manner, then back at Maya.

"How about I give you a ride home? I know where you live after all, and I wouldn't want you getting soaked out there."

Maya tensed up slightly at the offer, then shook her head.

"I'll pass. You're not going out of your way for me."

"Yes I am, especially when you'd be stuck in the rain for another hour and a half," Farkle noted. Maya internally gasped when she realized he knew the subway schedule.

"Come on," Farkle said, heading over to the front door and holding it for her. Regrettably, Maya walked outside, hiding her bubbly smile from him.

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**Well wasn't this a cute chapter?**

**PlEaSe ReViEw because I love anything you guys have to say!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Yay, FanFiction is back up! I wanted to get the chapter out right after I finished it, but... I had to wait a little while. Sad face.**

**Anywho, here's another chappy!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned GMW, the writers would stop hinting Lucaya on Twitter. Sorry.**

* * *

Life had been making Riley sick.

She'd been avoiding Lucas and Maya at all costs. What Maya did to her was unforgivable and Riley insisted that she would rather _die_ than have to go through with what Maya put her through again. Riley was upset with Lucas for being a part of Maya's cruel plan (or so she was convinced on, he wouldn't have rejected her either way if he actually liked her).

Aside from that, none of her other friends tried to talk to her anymore, and the rest of the school either gave her weird looks, talked about her behind her back, or bullied her head-on.

Riley was so tired.

Tuesday, the day after her talk with Lucas and Maya's revelation, things only went downhill. Missy hounded her while she was changing out of her gym clothes in the locker room, saying things along the lines of, "You're too small, what kind of guy would want that?" and "I'm surprised you're not sore or red from all the guys you play with." She teased Riley about her smallness minute after minute, making her feel worth even less than before.

At lunchtime, she couldn't even bring herself to go to the cafeteria, fearing the looks she'd get, the things people would say about her. She didn't want to sit with Farkle, and obviously Maya and Lucas, so she began to pack her own lunch and eat it in the bathroom.

At the end of the day, when Riley was packing up, a group of guys would come by to her locker and push the books out of her hands. Then, they'd all corner her and say rotten things.

"Who the hell would want to sleep with you?"

"Can I have a try? Oh, do I have to pay you for it?"

"The day we'll leave you alone will be the day you learn to close your legs!"

The worst part of the end of the school day was, along with the menacing boys, Riley would spot Maya in the corner of her eye. Maya would be watching Riley get hassled, and just stare. She wouldn't do anything like Riley thought the old Maya would. She'd just watch.

When she got home, Riley would lie on her bed and stare at the ceiling in complete anger. Some of her anger was irrational, but some was just. She was mad at Missy for treating her like nothing. She was mad at the boys for making her feel weak. She was mad at her dad for doing nothing about it (even though he didn't know what was happening to Riley). She was mad at Lucas for slowly breaking her heart every time someone spat something awful at her, knowing Lucas was the one who spread the rumors in the first place. She was mad at Maya for starting it, for lying to the boy she loved, and for being an awful best friend. And, lastly, she was mad at the whole school for believing it all.

So she'd stare blankly, crying sometimes, and just sitting until she'd get tired.

This became routine for the rest of the week.

Well, until Friday, of course.

By then, Riley had already wallowed in her own misery to the state of not seeing the point of anything. She didn't snap at Missy anymore, didn't put any effort into her lunch, didn't resist whatever male group of students cornered her, and merely brushed past the dirty looks and giggles she'd earn.

Ignoring Maya and Lucas wasn't hard anymore. She wouldn't go out of her way to avoid them, she'd just pretend they weren't there and tone them out if they tried to speak to her.

The day went routine as always. Today, Missy decided to come at Riley from a new angle and mess with her hair. Not having the energy or strength to _care_, Riley let her. When she walked the halls afterwards, nobody took too much notice of her now slightly more frizzy hair, they just focused on Riley being Riley and targeted that.

At lunchtime, she went to the bathroom again. On the way there, however, she heard giggles erupting from the bathroom. She decided to choose the irrational thing to do and go all the way across the school to the high school wing bathroom. It was more or less a three minute walk, but the good thing was that the highschoolers were in class during the seventh grade lunchtime, so Riley wouldn't have to deal with running into anybody else. Though she was risking being late to her next class, she wasn't in the mood to be made fun of any more than she had to be today.

Riley thoroughly thought out and decided in her last period that she would go to her locker after the afternoon announcements, so the boys wouldn't trouble her more than usual. Most of them would have to go to football after the announcements, anyway. Riley still couldn't figure out why she was going so out of her way to avoid these people, considering she felt too weak and tired to do anything of any use.

At the end of the day, she had buried her head in her arms and waited in her desk for the afternoon announcements to come on the intercom, where the principal would dismiss everyone, make club or sport notifications, and tell students to have a good afternoon and that "we'll see you tomorrow" (or, in today's case, Monday).

The announcements never came.

By 3:34, she began to grow curious, but she still kept her head in her arms.

The screech of the intercom made several students jump.

"Uhh, testing," the voice on the intercom said. Riley opened her eyes, recognizing the voice as… Lucas's?

This had to be Lucas, Riley'd studied that boy like a book for months now.

"Okay. Hello students, Lucas Friar here, 7th grade baseball captain and classroom president. I wanted to tell you all something."

Riley shook her head and closed her eyes once more. He probably just asked the principal if he could make the announcement today to tell everyone to go to the upcoming baseball game.

"You all know Riley Matthews, or at least you do by now. I just wanted to tell you that everything you've been told about her isn't true."

Riley's head began to rise at this.

"She's not what you think she is. In fact, she's the opposite. She's amazing and sweet and talented and innocent, and couldn't hurt a fly. She's someone we'd all be lucky to have as a friend. I spread some rumors about her that I thought were true, but they're not. I messed up so bad, and now everyone thinks she's this freak, but she's really not. Stop picking on her and start picking on me. She doesn't deserve any of the hate she's getting, it's my fault she's being attacked and I should be in her place. Leave her alone because she didn't do anything wrong.

"That is all," Lucas finished, and the intercom clicked off. A bunch of students were shooting alerted looks at one another, others were looking at Riley.

Riley was fully sitting up now, mouth wide open.

Moments later, the announcement was made by the principal for students to be dismissed. Everyone hurried out of the classroom, eager to tell their friends about the new event that had just occurred.

Riley slowly gathered her stuff, reflecting on what had just happened. All she could think was…

_Wow._

* * *

**Wow.**

**Please tell me how you felt about this chapter! I love you all and thank you for sticking around to read this story. xoxo**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you guys all for the follows, favorites, and reviews!**

**The reviews are so sweet and make me glad to know you like the story. It means a lot.**

**Person - "An update on a Thursday? Whaaa?!"**

**I'm very bad at time management, so I try to get the chapters I write out to you guys as soon as possible. I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own GMW because if I did, we wouldn't have to wait another month for Girl Meets First Date.**

* * *

Maya kept reflecting on the events of that day.

Lucas helping Riley was really huge, something that Maya felt would never be done for her.

Now everything would be happy-go-lucky in Riley's world. Maya envied how everything could just go from bad to good for Riley in the matter of just a week. She was amazed.

Maya was forced to deal with her problems day by day. In fact, she even grew up with problems. Riley, however, has a perfect life that, if damaged, will just fix itself over time.

Maya can never be fixed.

Though she was upset about Riley getting the good life once again, this wasn't her main concern.

Ever since the incident last Friday, Maya had been so lonely. Nothing had changed aside from Riley and Lucas keeping their distances from her. Without them, she had nobody to talk to, nobody to lean on when she needed a shoulder.

Well, there was Farkle, but, in a way, she was scared to vent to him. She thought if she told him her troubles, she'd lose him too.

Maya was suffering, but for the first time in a long time, she was suffering alone.

She didn't know how she'd work herself out of this one.

At the moment, her mind had completely blocked out her previous anger. All she could think about was making things right with Riley. Her selfishness had burned through her eyes and made her mad at her best friend, but now she realized how much she needed Riley.

Somehow, though, there was a lingering thought in the back of Maya's head that told her she wasn't about to apologize to Riley for Riley's sake.

She sat in her empty house thinking of what she should do to make it up to Riley for hours, while occasionally pushing her thoughts aside to toast some pop-tarts and switch the song on her smartphone (which she was still getting used to using).

It was about seven when Maya decided she'd wing it and go to Riley's to try to talk to her.

Bundling up for the forecasted cold night, she grabbed her phone, locked the door, and left her home.

At about 7:30, it began to snow.

~.x.x.x.~

That night, Riley didn't mope around like she usually did.

She was at her window—staring outside, of course—but not thinking about her constant pain, or not feeling numb and weak like usual.

She was thinking about Lucas (which she got angry at herself for doing at first, but she gave in), but she couldn't decipher her emotions towards him—she was confused, shocked; she didn't know what to feel.

What Lucas did for her was _amazing_, though she had to keep reminding herself that she was supposed to be mad at him.

But who could be mad at those gorgeous emerald eyes, and that beautiful smile, and comforting voice—

Oh yeah. Riley was head over heels once again.

It was about 7-'o-clock, and Riley was changing into her fuzzy, long pajamas. Once she had them on, she instantly felt warmer than before.

She bounced onto her bed and rolled over on her stomach. Kicking her feet up and down, she got out her phone, typed in her passcode (which she'd switched from "Lucas" to a random number) and saw that there was a message she hadn't seen earlier.

She tapped the message icon with her finger.

"Hey" a text from Lucas read.

She hadn't texted Lucas since the whole incident—a week, she counted. She texted back a "hi".

As if he was waiting for her to respond, a new message was received seconds later. It read, "What's up?"

Riley began to text again, fingers moving like lightning, and she couldn't help but absentmindedly smile, knowing she was talking to Lucas.

"Nothing much, just hangin on my bed."

Riley didn't know what else to say, and she panicked, thinking she should say something else. But how was she supposed to respond to that?

"Good weather we're having!(:" she added to her previous text, quickly sending the message. She then hit her palm to her head.

"Weather, Riley, really?" she mumbled to herself. Her phone made a swishy sound signaling the receiving of a new message. She picked it up.

"Not really, it's freezing" the message from Lucas read. Riley furrowed her eyebrows, texting back.

"Are u outside?" she sent the message.

"Come on, Riley," she said to herself, facepalming once again. Of course he is, it's completely logical for him to be outside, he goes jogging some afternoons. Why Riley didn't remember that, she had no idea.

Her phone swished.

"Look outside." The message from Lucas read. Riley's mouth opened slightly. Confused and surprised, she rushed to the window, where a shivering Lucas stood.

"Lucas..!" Riley said in alarm, opening her window.

"Hey," Lucas smiled weakly. Riley tugged on his left arm and yanked him into her room.

"Oh, get in here–what are you doing here?"

Once Lucas was in Riley's room, Riley went over to her open window, which had already caused the temperature of her room to decrease by twenty degrees. She shut the window.

"I wanted to try apologizing again," he said, plain and simple. "Oh, and I'm prepared to perform a rope trick if you don't let me talk here."

Riley looked down and giggled slightly at his comment.

"I was really stupid for believing Maya. She'd told me other things before, like when our 'date' was gonna be, and that you'd be asking me out that day, and in the moment, it really phased me. I wasn't thinking straight and I should have known better.

"Like I said on the announcement today, I don't think of you badly at all. I think of you like the angel you are. Please forgive me, a week barely talking to you felt like a week of living without air. It was nearly impossible."

The corners of Riley's lips began to shift into a smile.

"Oh, and also," Lucas said. "In case that wasn't enough, I made you something to make up for everything."

Lucas pulled out a piece of paper from behind his back and handed it to Riley. She reached out and wearily grabbed a corner.

"I know I'm not the best author, but…" Lucas started, scratching the back of his head.

Riley, now reading the paper, began to melt as she read.

_Dear Riley:_

_Roses are red,_

_Violets are blue (well, they're actually purple),_

_I'll never, ever, ever meet anyone else like you._

_Your gorgeous chocolate eyes always get me going,_

_And your amazing smile always has me knowing._

_It has me knowing that you're the only one_

_Who could ever make me feel like I do._

_So, Riles, it's taken me a while to say this, but…_

_I've liked you for the longest time, and it's you and only you._

_Well, from that, you can kinda see I'm not the best at poetry, but I hope you get the message. The point is, I really, really like you. By the time you've read this, I'll probably be there watching you read this, so I'll just say it here because I don't have the guts to say it out loud… here it goes:_

_Will you be my girlfriend?_

—_Lucas_

Riley's head slowly rose, and after a few seconds, the pair's eyes met again.

Riley couldn't help but get a little tearfelt that this was happening. This was _real_, not just another dream.

Blinking her tears away, she nodded eagerly with her big smile that could light up a room.

Lucas returned what Riley thought was the biggest smile she's ever seen him give. He flung himself at her, holding her body snuggly and protectively against his. Each member of the pair snuck a smile without the other being able to see, which was packaged with a blush.

The two were so busy hugging out their hidden feelings that lingered for months on end that neither of them noticed that it had begun to snow.

* * *

**Awwww!**

**Please let me know how you felt about this chapter! I'd love to hear your thoughts.(:**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm super sorry for the lack of updates! Something really important happened and I was unable to write at all.**

**I tried to get this chapter out before the season finale of GMW aired, but I'm kinda late. At least it'll be here when the episode's over. If there are any grammatical errors, please excuse them.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own GMW and this probably won't happen on the show. Yeahhhhhh.**

* * *

By 8:30, Lucas had left.

After watching the snow fall heavier and heavier in Lucas's arms, Riley had to sadly suggest he return home.

"It would be really hard to get home if the snow got any thicker, plus it's really dark. If you leave any later, you'll get hurt…" she'd pointed out.

"I'll be fine, Riles… but, yeah, I should probably be going." Lucas put a hand on Riley's head, ruffling her hair a little. Then, with a smile, he exited out of the window.

When she looked at her swishing phone in the next moment, a text from Maya popped up. Regrettably, Riley clicked on it. It read, "I'm coming over. We need to talk."

Riley had still been damaged extremely over what Maya had done. She wasn't in the mood to see her face. Now that the happiness in her mood was down to a minimum again, she decided she wasn't going to be here for Maya to see her.

Riley put on her slippers, bundled up with a coat, some gloves, a scarf, grabbed the note Lucas had written for her, and left her house, telling her parents she was going to walk around the building.

Riley went up to the roof of the building, found a comfortable bench, and sat. There, she read Lucas's note again, which cheered her up. What was even better was that it was snowing, which set the mood for a wonderful night. She wouldn't let Maya bring her down again, not today.

~.x.x.x.~

Once Maya had gotten to Riley's and buzzed in, she was surprised to hear Riley's mother on the other side of the intercom.

"Who is it?" Topanga asked.

"Hi, Mrs. Matthews. It's Maya. Is Riley there?"

"Actually, she just left," Topanga responded. "She said she was going to walk around the building. You're welcome to take a look around and try to find her, and I'll tell you if she comes back."

"Okay. Thank you," Maya responded. She left the door of Riley's apartment and began to look around the building.

Though there were many buildings next to it, Riley's didn't have many apartments and was only a few floors high. Riley, being the rule abider she was, definitely wouldn't have left the building, as she told her parents she wouldn't.

Finding Riley probably wouldn't take too long.

After thoroughly searching the first four floors, Maya concluded that Riley slipped past her and went back home, and Topanga hadn't texted her yet about it.

Maya was about to head back to Riley's until she noticed a set of stairs that she hadn't before. Maya hadn't been much higher than Riley's floor before, and hadn't known that there were more than four floors.

Shrugging, Maya began to head up the stairs. Once she reached the top, she noticed that she was on the roof of the building.

This didn't seem much like a roof, though. There were benches and plants and decorations everywhere to make it sort of like a rest stop venue. She even noticed a vending machine to her right.

Deciding to explore the merely lightly covered with snow roof, she looked at a bench all the way across where she was standing.

A figure was sitting on the bench.

Could it be..?

Biting her lip, Maya began to walk over to the figure. They hadn't seemed to notice Maya's presence, even when she was five feet behind them.

Taking notice of the long, dark waves on the person's head, she figured it had to be Riley. If it wasn't, oh well, but it was worth a shot.

So she steadily moved in front of the person and looked her straight in the eye.

Finally hearing her footsteps, Riley looked from Lucas's note to Maya.

"Hi," Maya started.

"How did you know I was here?" said Riley, standing up.

"I looked for you," Maya said. The bench in which they were located at was roughly close to the edge of the roof and provided a detailed view of the city before them.

"What do you need?" asked Riley wearily, holding the piece of paper to her chest. Snowflakes began to tangle themselves into the girls' hair.

"I wanted to say… I'm really sorry," Maya choked out, sincerely eyeing Riley. Riley's eyebrows went upwards, and then down, showing she really was upset.

"Why..?" Riley said. "Why did you do that?"

"I… I wanted you to feel it. I wanted you to feel my pain—"

"You don't get it!" Riley said, raising her voice. "You haven't dealt with something this bad! And you weren't even there for me! I ALWAYS HAVE BEEN!"

"I DON'T CARE!" Maya growled. "Yeah, I wasn't there! But your life just went and fixed itself just after a week! You didn't need me here! MY LIFE WILL NEVER BE FIXED!"

"This isn't about you!" Riley said. "You can't just hurt people just because you feel sorry for yourself! You expect me to be there and then just up and do this! How?! Do you even feel anything anymore?!"

"I don't feel sorry for myself!" Maya said, tightening her fists. "You're so difficult! Why can't you just accept my apology?! I'm trying here!"

"I'll feel your pain when I have to, Maya," Riley said. "You can't just force it on me! You can't just lie to everyone I know and turn them against me! You can't just sit there as I'm harassed and bullied and do nothing! What kind of person—"

Riley was interrupted by a hard blow to her face.

Knocked down by Maya's punch, Riley began to raise herself up with her hands. Noticing the piece of paper beside her, Maya picked it up, anger flashing in her eyes.

Her anger was boosted when she saw the note was a love note from Lucas. Her life was slowly getting better and better, and that wasn't supposed to happen.

Maya turned away from Riley and faced the city.

"No," said Riley, realizing what she was about to do. "Don't—"

Ignoring her calls, Maya ripped Lucas's note in half and threw the pieces out into the city.

* * *

**Please tell me your thoughts on the chapter! I'll be sure to update a lot more often now.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I updated pretty fast. I don't know why either.**

**Girl Meets First Date was too adorable! Now that I know how far Disney will go with Riley and Lucas, it definitely helps me to expand their relationship more maturely than I thought before, even if their kiss was just a little longer than a peck.**

**Thank you guys for the reviews, follows, and favorites! Maybe that's what pushed me to write more.**

**Disclaimer: Do you see me tweeting you guys about upcoming GMW episodes? No? Yeah, that's 'cause I don't own GMW.**

* * *

Riley awoke that morning not wanting to get up.

Saturday was Riley's day of adventure and exploration with Maya. Since she'd recently stopped being friendly with Maya, she hadn't been doing much for the past few Saturdays.

After a while, Riley eventually did get up; however, instead of dressing herself or leaving her room to get breakfast, she fell onto the spot near her window and sat.

Turning towards her window, she rested her arms on the window pane and laid her head down on her arms to look outside.

Though it was already March, the snowfall from the day before had seemed to coat up overnight. Riley wondered how much snow there was, but she didn't have the effort to check her phone to see, and she certainly didn't want to go outside.

After a while of not wanting to do anything, she realized that she had fallen back into her state of sadness.

Everything was going so well, too. She got a boyfriend, she got a love note from her boyfriend, her boyfriend had saved her from the wrath of the school; everything had become normal again. Everything had become even better than normal.

And then Maya up and ruined it again.

What was Lucas going to think when he learned Riley didn't have the note anymore? He could have possibly found it, but that's almost a one in a million chance. Considering the note was torn in two, it would be indecipherable to anyone who didn't have the other half, so if Lucas did find it, he might not know it was his. Plus, it was unlikely that both pieces landed beside each other.

Why was Maya out to get Riley? Riley didn't seem to understand, even after their fight the night before. Riley only saw that Maya wanted her to be miserable, and if she felt any happiness at all, Maya would come and crush it between her nimble fingers.

Riley had no idea how to escape this harassment either. Even if Maya did choose to leave Riley alone, Riley didn't know if everything would just be okay like it used to be. Even though Maya was acting insane, she still didn't want to risk her former best friend leaving her, even though Maya had been causing Riley all sorts of pain. Riley was definitely confused as to why she felt so conflicted about Maya.

Riley realized in thinking this that she was being too good of a friend to someone who only wanted her to suffer.

What if Maya wasn't the only one out to get her? What if all her friends, family… What if everyone was just building up her hopes just to later crush her?

Riley couldn't bear the thought. She stood up, locked her door, turned her phone off, sat on the ground, and stared, trying desperately to stop herself from thinking.

It was moments like these where Riley truly hated being alive.

~.x.x.x.~

The dirty-blond haired, blue eyed boy kept his glare upon the principal of John Quincy Adams.

"Mister Morgan, _you will answer me when I am talking to you_," the principal scolded him.

"My name's Kameron, don't ever call me 'Morgan'," the boy said coolly.

"Alright, Mister Kameron. Where are your parents?"

"Why did you drag me here?" Kameron asked, though it sounded like more of a demand.

"You were caught taking clothing from the school's lost and found," the principal responded. "You're a fourteen-year-old boy, and the fact that you refused to mention where your parents were when the janitor caught you resulted in him bringing you here. Now, where are your parents?"

Kameron shifted his icy glare to the ground, anger twisting in his face.

"Obviously not here," he responded harshly. "Can I leave now?"

"No, sir, you may not. You must make up for what you have done—"

Right as the principal spoke, Cory Matthews rushed into the room.

"Sorry I'm late," Cory fumbled, making his way to the principal's desk. "My son dragged a little girl into our house, and my daughter wouldn't open her door—ah, who's this?"

Kameron took a short glimpse of Cory, groaned, and looked at the ground again, his elbows resting on his knees as he slouched down.

"His name is Kameron Morgan, and he was found trying to rob our school," the principal said. Kameron flinched at the sound of his last name. "We asked him for information about a parent or guardian, but he won't say much."

"I said they were gone," Kameron growled. "What else do you want from me—"

"_I want to know who is taking responsibility for your actions, boy!_" the principal said, straight-faced. Cory decided now was a good time to interfere.

"Kameron," he said calmly, leaning down to the boy. "What you did isn't something that the school tolerates. You're lucky that the principal didn't report you to the police. So can you please listen to us, cope with us here?"

Kameron sighed, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms.

"Fine," he sighed, his eyebrows finally loosening.

"Okay," Cory said. "So do you feel comfortable telling us about your parents?"

"No, sorry," Kameron said.

"Kameron," the principal said. "If you do not give us information on your parents' whereabouts, we'll have no choice but to—"

"It's not your business, all right!" Kameron said, flashing yet another warning glare.

Noticing Kameron's uncertainty of the situation, Cory, though knowing it would be risky, decided to take matters into his own hands.

Cory grabbed the principal by the elbow, and the two of them moved into the hallway.

"How about this," Cory suggested. "I'll take the kid home, have him spend the night, try to get some information out of him. Just give me a day, and tomorrow we'll decide on what we do with him."

~.x.x.x.~

"Okay," Cory said, gesturing towards the front door of his home. "This is my house, where you'll be staying tonight. My wife and I are happy to feed you and make sure you have a good place to sleep. Tomorrow, we'll sort everything out."

"Thank you, sir, I really appreciate it," Kameron said, giving Cory a nod.

"No need to thank me. Just settle in and you'll feel right at home."

Kameron eyed the front door up and down and nervously turned to Cory.

"Actually," Kameron started. "I mean, if you don't mind—is there any way I can maybe walk around for a bit, explore the town? I just moved here, after all."

"You just moved here?" Cory asked. "From where?"

"Mom and Dad, well, they—something happened, and I got sent here by train from Canada."

Kameron gave Cory a serious look.

"Please, sir. I promise I won't get into trouble. I only tried to take clothes from the school because I had nothing else…"

Cory gave a smile.

"That's just fine," he said, patting the boy's shoulder. "Just don't go too far. You'll remember where the building is, right?"

"Yeah, I have a pretty good eye for directions. I'll be back soon," the boy said. With that, he hopped down the stairs and out into the city streets, ignoring the goodbye waves that Cory was sending him.

Once he got onto the ground, Kameron took a right, reciting the directions back to the apartment in his head. He figured he'd just continue down right to avoid the chance of possibly getting lost; one direction was much simpler than two.

After a while of walking down the block, Kameron reached a small, park-like area, filled with many multi-branched trees. He was surprised to learn that he was the only person there. Taking advantage of his solitude, he began to climb a nearby tree.

He hadn't cracked easily and told anyone, but he'd grown up with a guardian of his a detective. Not being able to attend school, he went to work with them, learning all about agility and the intelligence to spy on a crook or crack a case.

He was halfway up the tree when he looked up and noticed a piece of paper sticking out from one of the branches.

Hoping it was money, he climbed higher, reaching the branch and grabbing the paper.

He realized that the paper he was holding wasn't money. Instead, it was half of a piece of paper, seemingly torn in half. Turning it over to read it, he noticed that a lot of the sentences were cut in half.

Really, the only part of the note that wasn't cut off was the part that said, "—Lucas".

Grinning at something to do in this so far boring town, he pocketed the piece of paper and began his next case: finding the other half of the note.

* * *

**Ooh, new character!**

**What are your thoughts on the new character? What do you think will happen next? Feel free to review and tell me your thoughts!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I'm glad a lot of you are curious about Kameron as a character, because this chapter is all about character development.**

**I am on an update roll here! An update per day is pretty good for me. The best thing is that because this week is my spring break, I have more time to write and update.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own GMW, but I do own Kameron.**

* * *

Kameron had arrived back at the Matthews household at around midnight. The door was locked, so he observed the building for other ways of getting in.

After making his way around the house, he found a window that most definitely led to the correct place. Smirking, Kameron pulled himself up and looked inside.

There, he saw a typical teenage girl's room. Kameron smiled, knowing that he was pretty sure he heard Cory mention that he had a daughter.

Trying the window, he was surprised to see that it was unlocked. He slowly lifted it and allowed himself in.

When he entered, the room was dark except for the spots of moonlight shining into the room. Looking around for the door, he began to walk around.

He stopped in his tracks when he noticed a girl on the ground.

From what he could see, she seemed very pretty, just worn down. The moonlight just seemed to frame her face perfectly, though with the moon's light, he saw some odd black markings on her wrists. Unlike most early teens would be at this hour, she wasn't asleep. Instead, she was sitting on the ground by the door, just staring into nothing.

On the floor next to her, he saw some scissors, tape, and a black marker.

Deciding to take another look at her, he closely observed her wrists again. Seemingly, she'd doodled on her wrists. Kameron awarded himself for his observational skills.

Hoping she didn't see him, Kameron slickly moved to the door. Slowly, he cracked it open, and slid out into the living room.

He flicked on the light and began to explore the kitchen area.

On the fridge, he saw the names "Riley" and "Auggie" written out with magnetic letters. Above Riley's name rested a school yearbook picture of the girl Kameron had just seen. She had the same long, dark hair and chocolate eyes. Above Auggie's name, he saw a picture of a young, curly-haired boy, sharing similar features with his sister.

Finding nothing else of much use in the kitchen, he moved to the living room, where he found a note resting on the couch.

"Kameron," Kameron whispered aloud, reading the note. "This couch is a pull-out bed. For whenever you get back, just pull it out. My wife already put the sheets on, so just put on the blanket that's on the table and you're all set."

Sighing, Kameron pulled out the bed and dressed it with the large blanket that was on the table. Kameron then pulled off his black and grey sweatshirt and sat on the bed.

Yeah, like he was going to bed now.

He pulled out the two pieces of paper he'd found; the one he found in the tree, and the one he found blending in perfectly with the snow. Fitting the pieces of paper together, he noticed that some parts were ripped and he wasn't able to get them perfectly connected.

Kameron suddenly remembered the tape lying next to Riley in her room.

Oh, he'd have to be stealthy for this one. Yeah, he could just keep trying to connect the pieces of paper, but that would take up too much time he could be using deciphering the note or exploring.

Papers in hand, Kameron walked back up to Riley's room and slid back in.

Once he got in, the girl was still sitting where she was moments ago. Kameron carefully leaned down and snatched the tape.

He took pieces of tape from the dispenser and, with the light of the moon guiding him, began to tape the pieces of the note together.

In a matter of minutes, the note was back together and in reading condition.

Kameron began to read the note. He saw that it was a corny love note from a guy named Lucas, and he couldn't help but chuckle at his awful attempt at poetry.

One thing he noticed, however, was that this note was written for someone named Riley.

He recently acquired the information that Cory's daughter was named Riley, and realized that there was a chance that this note was addressed to her.

He'd have to look into this some more later.

Satisfied with his detective work, Kameron stood and headed for the door.

Just then, he felt a small hand on his ankle. He looked down at the source.

Riley was gazing up at him, frowning. She stood up and blocked the door with her body, as if to prevent him from going out to disturb anyone else in her family.

"Who are you? Why are you in my room?!"

Kameron gave a smirk to Riley. She didn't know why, but it made her blood run cold.

"My name's Kameron, and I'm in your room because I live here now." He slowly approached her.

"What?" Riley said. She was angry that nobody decided to tell her this. Then again, she had locked herself in her room all day.

"Now I've got a question for you. Do you happen to know a boy named Lucas?" Kameron asked her, curious.

Even in the darkness of the room, Kameron could still see Riley blush.

"I do," she said, frowning. "Why—?"

"Just wondering," Kameron said. He pulled out the note he'd just taped together to show her. Her eyes widened.

"Give me that!" Riley said, gasping shortly. Kameron chuckled and held it high above his head.

"Nah," he said. "You know, I don't think you were too fair to this Lucas guy."

"What do you mean?" she said. "He's my boyfriend, I really like him—"

"Oh, really?" Kameron said. "Then why is it you'd tear in up this note he gave you and then throw it out? You know, I bet he wouldn't be too happy if he found out—"

"No," Riley said immediately. "It wasn't me. I didn't tear it up and throw it out. It was my friend—"

"Hmm, okay," said Kameron, seemingly unconvinced. "So I wonder what would happen if I were to go to Lucas and show him the note. If I said you did it, think he'd believe you or the guy with the note?"

"He'd believe me. I'm his girlfriend, after all, and I bet you don't even know him—"

"See, honey, that's where you're wrong. I moved here a few days ago from Texas. I've known Lucas all my life," Kameron lied, but the confidence in his words convinced Riley that he was being truthful.

"You're so evil," Riley said, her voice cracking. This boy that she didn't even know was willing to lie to her boyfriend just to make her life miserable. She was starting to become convinced that the world was truly out to get her. Why would a stranger do this to a person?

"You know, maybe I won't tell him. On one condition. Let's play a game, Riley."

"What game?" Riley said. Kameron smirked at the fear quivering from her voice.

"I'll tell you five things to do. You have to do every single one of them. When you do, I'll give you the note back and everything will be fine. If you don't, I'll give this to Lucas and, hey, there goes your relationship…" he said.

Riley gulped.

"Fine," she said.

Of course he didn't know Lucas and had no way of contacting him. He was sure he'd be able to if he wanted to, but scaring this girl was fun enough. And now that he got to make her do five things, he was feeling truly satisfied and empowered. This girl was so scared of him, and even though he didn't know her, he had her life under his control.

"Let's begin," he smiled. "So, Riley, do you have a diary?"

Riley stared at him.

"No," she lied. What kind of stunk was that she was an awful liar, and she could even hear her voice not sounding like it usually would. She hoped he didn't notice.

"You're lying," Kameron said. Riley groaned. "Liars need to be punished. You deserve a spanking."

"You're not touching me," Riley responded coolly, bringing all the strength she could muster into those few words.

"Fair enough," Kameron said, slightly taken aback from the demand in her voice. "Okay, here's your first thing to do. Give me your diary."

"No," Riley responded quickly. She had everything in there—her recent bullying experience, her betrayal, her crush on Lucas, her fears, her daily life and contemplations.

"I wasn't asking," Kameron said, holding up the note. Hesitantly, Riley retrieved her diary from one of her drawers and handed it to him.

"Good girl," Kameron said. He visibly slipped Riley's note into his back pocket and smiled.

"I'm going to go read me some bedtime stories now. Nice meeting you."

Kameron slickly left the room, leaving Riley terrified. She lowered herself onto the ground and began to rock back and forth, quivering as she did so.

Kameron lay on the couch bed and began reading through Riley's diary, picking out anything he could use against her to make her terrified.

In doing this, he didn't feel sick or awful.

He felt energized; he felt elated.

* * *

**So instead of a normal new guy, we have another sicko added to the cast!**

**What did you think about this chapter?**

**What do you think Kameron will end up doing with the note?**

**How will Riley get out of this one?**

**Why am I asking so many questions?**

**Please leave some feedback! I read everything you say. Love you guys.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Sadly, guys, this will be the last chapter of this fanfiction.**

**...**

**APRIL FOOLS!**

**(I really am sorry, I had to)**

**Okay. Truthfully, it took me long enough, but I'm 60% sure I know where I'm going with the rest of the story. I may end up changing it later on, but for now, stay tuned.**

**Disclaimer: I am not rich and famous (though I wish I were). Therefore, I do not own GMW.**

* * *

Monday came very slowly for Riley.

The morning after Kameron snuck into her room and blackmailed her, Riley steered clear of him at all costs. She was scared of what he'd make her do, scared of him in general.

He was just like Maya, and Riley hated it.

Kameron had been at the Matthews residence most of the time Riley was there, so she'd continue to lock herself away in her room. Instead of going out and sightseeing some more, he'd been just casually reading through her diary as if it was a novel.

Because of his constant loitering around her house, Riley was surprised to see that he wasn't on his couch bed on Monday morning.

Though she was curious as to Kameron's whereabouts, Riley decided that it wasn't worth her time. Skipping breakfast, she got ready for school and left her home, packing a precautionary lunch just in case she was forced to hide away again.

Riley sat at her usual desk when she arrived at school. She noticed that she, for one of the first times, was not early. In fact, looking around the room, it seemed that everyone else was where they were supposed to be, minus the few vacant seats all the way at the back of the room.

Yes, everyone was there, except for Riley's dad.

She and the other students waited for Cory to arrive. Instead of moping around like she had been these last few Monday mornings, Lucas leaned over to her desk and began to chat her up.

"So, how was your weekend?" he asked. "You didn't text back at all, and I was worried." Farkle immediately joined the conversation, giving a detailed description of his own weekend.

Riley couldn't help but smile as the mere presence of her best friends cheered her up. She even ignored the feeling of pair of glossy blue eyes on her, which were most definitely Maya's.

There was a shuffling of feet at the front of the room, and the students' heads all turned forwards to face the front.

There stood Cory, but he wasn't alone. Riley's could feel her blood becoming cold again.

Kameron looked around the classroom, hands in the pockets of his hoodie. He found Riley who was staring at him, shocked, and smirked at her reaction to his arrival.

"Okay, class," said Cory. "I felt it was my duty to introduce our new student. This is Kameron Morgan."

Kameron gave a short nod to his classmates.

"Go ahead and look around a bit, I'll figure out where you're sitting."

Kameron began to slowly walk around the room, and he made his way to Riley's desk, appearing as lost to the other students, but he knew where he was going. He found a patch of bare skin on her shoulder and ran his fingers on it. Instantly, Riley felt like ice was being pressed to her skin. Riley pulled away from him.

With the arrival of a new student, the classroom was chatting about it and only Farkle, Maya, and Lucas noticed Kameron's approach on Riley.

Maya overlooked the situation, unamused, and turned back to face the front. Farkle looked outraged. Lucas looked like he was about to kill a man.

"Evans, Friar, Hart, Matthews, Minkus…" Cory mumbled, trying to locate Kameron's seat. "Aha, there you are. Kameron, you'll be sitting behind Farkle."

Cory gestured to the seat behind Farkle where another boy sat.

"Jackson, because your last name is Nyugen, if you would please move to the empty seat behind you so Kameron can take his rightful place."

Riley's mood lightened slightly at her father's organization tendency.

Once the boys had moved, class had begun, though it paused frequently for Cory to supply and catch up Kameron. He didn't seem to be paying too much attention to the class anyways, for Riley turned and caught him scribbling on a notebook.

Class ended, and Lucas and Farkle pulled Riley aside when she tried to leave, keeping her in the classroom.

"Who was that guy?" Lucas asked, a hint of something unrecognizable in his voice. The only time Riley had ever recognized a similar sound was when Billy was picking on Farkle.

"I—I don't know," Riley lied, not wanting to trouble her friends any more than she had to. Aside from that, she didn't want Lucas to wind up talking to Kameron, and Kameron showing Lucas the note due to Riley ratting him out.

"Are you sure? He was touching you pretty creepily, like he knew you from somewhere," Farkle pointed out. Riley closed her eyes and sighed.

"My dad's… seen him around before. He's like this big rebellious bad boy. Just try to stay away from him."

"Stay away from him? What if he tries something else with you?!" Lucas said.

"I agree with Lucas, Riley, we're here to protect you from anything like that."

"Guys, it's okay," Riley said, reassuringly. "I'll make sure nothing else happens. If it does, I'll tell my dad or another teacher. I just don't want you getting involved because I think he's a really bad guy…"

"If that's what you want, Riley," Lucas said, giving her a smile. He slung his arm around her shoulders and gave her a side hug.

"Come on," Farkle said, taking a step back to admire the pair's connection and smiling. "Gym's next, and we don't want to be late for that."

* * *

**Short, boring chapter, I know. Still, please leave feedback! Also, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I was originally going to wait until the five-day premiere to post the next chapter, but I found a few clips and knew I HAD to get this out.**

**Lucas is so different! His voice! His personality! AH! Riley looks more mature! Maya's curls are more perfected! Farkle's so much taller!**

**I'm not ready for this season at all. There's going to be so many changes!**

**In spite of the wait, here's a longer-than-usual chapter for you guys. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: If you haven't noticed by now, I DOOOON'T OWNNNN GMWWWWW!**

* * *

It was almost 4:00 that Monday afternoon. Maya had felt rather dizzy that day, resulting in her being slower than usual. Before she knew it, she saw the time and knew she wouldn't be able to get to the subway before it left.

Normally, when this happened, Maya would go to the subway and wait for an hour and a half until it came again, but today, Maya didn't feel up to that. She felt ultimately drained and was desperate for bedrest, so she decided that she would go to Cory's room and ask him for a ride home.

Her locker wasn't far from the classroom, but Maya had lingered near her locker for a while to watch Riley. The guys that used to surround her no longer did. Now, it was Lucas and Farkle talking to them. Lucas, his arm around Riley, and Farkle, bouncing with laughter. Maya used to be included in that.

Riley left on time, of course, along with Lucas, who'd been taking the subway both to and from school now that he felt more protective of Riley than ever before. Farkle stayed across the hall from Maya's locker and began scrolling through his smartphone. Maya wondered what he was doing on it as time dragged on.

Maya had lost the time after a while of watching Farkle. Normally, she would have stopped herself, but she was exhausted. She couldn't help herself from staring off into space, and especially at another person.

After realizing what time it was, Maya regained her energy and sauntered to Cory's classroom.

When she arrived, she poked her head in to see a boy standing on the far side of the room, opening a gum wrapper. He plopped the piece of gum into his mouth.

"Hey," Maya called out to the boy throwing a gum wrapper into Cory's trashcan from across the room. She entered the room, leaning on Cory's desk.

Kameron looked up at her and brushed by her, picking up a stray piece of paper on the floor and bundling it up.

"I was talking to you," Maya said in a more demanding tone.

"Yes?" Kameron sighed, turning towards her.

"What were you doing touching my best friend earlier?"

Kameron raised his eyebrows, throwing the piece of paper into the trashcan. He turned to Maya.

"She's your best friend?" Kameron asked. "I'm surprised, considering all you've done to her."

"What do you mean..?" Maya started.

"Don't play dumb," Kameron said. Reciting Riley's diary, he began to speak. "Lying, ruining her chances with Lucas, rumor spreading, betrayal, violence, and most of all, tearing up her most prized possession."

Kameron reached into his pocket and held Lucas's note in his hand. Maya instantly recognized it.

"How…?"

"Don't speak to me. You're awful." Kameron folded back up the note and slipped it into his pocket once more.

Kameron was contemplating how to play this one. He usually didn't take sides; he just did whatever he could to make both miserable.

"Oh, wait. Don't tell me you were going to confront me on touching Riley earlier? Could it be you actually care about her?" he asked.

"She's my _sister_," Maya said, fists tight. "I don't know why I did what I did but I regret it. I do. I think you should stay out of my business."

"So you do feel guilty," Kameron said, ignoring her request. "Wouldn't kill you to show it."

"It's not that simple! I… I can't… show her…" Maya sputtered. She suddenly began to feel slightly weaker again.

"Someone's looking pale. I think I have a guess why."

Kameron began walking around the room again.

"So you've been cutting yourself. You're so pathetic. I didn't know there were worse human beings than me in this world."

"I didn't cut myself," Maya said.

"Really? Then why were you being so shifty with your left arm during gym?" Kameron said.

Maya approached Kameron, determination in her eyes.

"You want to keep telling me how awful of a person I am? Fine. But don't touch her, or I swear, you're going to regret it." Maya looked down. "She's not suffering anymore. Never again."

Kameron opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted by Cory entering the room.

~.x.x.x.~

That Monday night, Riley, who used to sit around and do nothing, received a text from Lucas.

"Hey Riles. Wanna maybe walk around for a bit?"

Riley began to text him back.

"Where? Idk if I'll be allowed" she responded.

Her phone made a swishing noise shortly after she sent her text.

"The park down the road, I'm already there. You should come meet me! It'll be fun"

Riley's mouth shifted into a smile. She eagerly stood up and raced around her room. She pampered her hair, put lip gloss on along with powder, and left the room.

Cory and Kameron were talking at the dinner table.

"…but you can't do stuff like that!"

"She was asking for it, sir," Kameron said.

"Oh goodness, Kam… That—that doesn't make what you did acceptable! Detention tomorrow. I'm really ashamed of you."

Riley approached her dad, now distracted from the park topic.

"What happened?" Riley asked curiously. Cory gave a smile.

"Oh, nothing, honey. Kameron just got himself into a bit of trouble."

Her dad walked over to the living room and began straightening out Kameron's bed.

"Hey, Daddy…" Riley asked, following him into the room. "Can I go to the park? Just for a little while, I promise I'll be back soon."

Cory nodded.

"Go right ahead. Just keep your phone on."

"Thanks Daddy!" Riley said, ecstatically. She jumped up and ran outside. As Cory watched his daughter leave, Kameron unnoticeably grabbed Cory's cellphone from the counter and pocketed it.

~.x.x.x.~

Riley ran to the park. It was fairly empty due to it being a school night. Riley spotted a few adults, however, and an elderly couple walking side-by-side beneath the blooming trees.

She looked around for a while but couldn't seem to locate Lucas anywhere.

She felt hands on her waist.

Riley was in panic mode, fearfully flailing about. The source of the hands turned her around.

Lucas stood, holding her waist tightly. He could see the fear in her eyes, and was now let down by the fact that his attempted joke had _really_ scared her.

"Are you okay?" he asked genuinely.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Riley said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," Lucas said, sliding his arms under hers and pulling her into a hug. She breathlessly leaned into his shoulder.

"I bet," she said.

Lucas pulled away, looking at her with halfway sad eyes. He cupped her face in his hands.

"What is going on with you?" he asked.

"Nothing's happening," Riley said defensively. She was shaking.

Lucas took notice of this and let her go. He was afraid that his demand to know what was wrong was scaring her.

He put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. The two began to walk.

"Look, Riley… I know what happened with Maya put you through a lot…" Lucas said, leading her through the park. "But something else is going on. You know I'm here for you. Can you tell me what happened?"

Riley sighed.

"It's just the new guy…" Riley said. "I may have left out some details earlier. He's been staying at our house for the past few days. It's been weird and the suddenness of it all got me kind of shaken up, but I'm fine."

Riley didn't want to mention to Lucas any of the threats Kameron gave her or anything he did to her. The last thing she wanted was for him to be on Kameron's tail; it would just get her into more trouble.

"Okay, Riles. I'm sure everything will work out in the end." Lucas squeezed her closer to him, and the two walked silently.

While walking with Lucas, Riley had just realized that Lucas hadn't at all reacted as if he knew this guy. Kameron had lied to her about knowing Lucas.

He said that just to scare her. How awful.

Now, Riley was having doubts. Was he even from Texas at all? Was his name even Kameron? Riley looked down as she walked. She couldn't figure this guy out, and she really didn't want to, but she was partially forced by the fact that he was blackmailing her every minute of the day.

Just then, Riley's phone began to ring.

Riley pulled out her smartphone and saw that her father was calling. Gloomy because he was probably going to tell her to go home, Riley reluctantly answered the phone.

"Hi Daddy… do you want me to come home?" she asked.

"Yes, sweetie. I think you should come home _now_ if you know what's best for you."

The voice of Kameron rang in Riley's ears. She stopped walking. Immediately, she was sick to her stomach.

Lucas noticed the expression on Riley's face and understood that whoever Riley was talking to was someone she was clearly uneasy about; it was definitely not her father.

He grabbed the phone from Riley's hands.

"Who's speaking?" Lucas said.

"Why hello, Lucas," Kameron said.

"_Who's speaking?_" Lucas repeated.

"I'm Kameron, new guy from your class. I didn't have your number but I wanted to talk to you."

"I wanted to talk to you too," Lucas said. Not wanting Riley to know that he was about to bring her up, Lucas held his index finger to Riley, signaling to her that he'd be a minute. Riley nodded in understanding as Lucas moved out of earshot.

"What have you been doing to Riley?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, Lucas…" Kameron said. "So you don't know yet. I'm really sorry."

"What do you mean…?" Lucas said, rather slowly.

"Riley, she's… She's been having affairs with me. I keep telling her 'No, you have a boyfriend, Riley' but she won't listen. She's all over me every night. I don't know if she told you, but I've been staying at their house for a bit."

Lucas turned to Riley, who was looking up at the trees, and away again.

"Okay, you need to stop right there. Someone's already tried this on me, and I'm not so gullible as to letting it work again. Besides, Riley's already warned me about you."

"Oh, that won't do…" Kameron said, formulating another plan in his head. Riley had exposed him to Lucas, and for this, she'd pay.

"Sorry, but I really don't believe you, and I have no reason to," Lucas said.

"You haven't noticed how closed off she's been towards you? She comes to me telling her how much she just wants to get rid of you already but she just can't do it…" Kameron paused, giving a smirk. "She even ripped up that note you gave her, and then she gave it to me as a sign that she wanted nothing to do with you. I taped it back up because I think it was really awful of her."

Lucas froze.

"She wouldn't do that. I'm sorry, but people have been spreading so many lies about her that aren't true, and I'm not going to let myself believe another one again."

"Lucas, if people are spreading lies about her, wouldn't you think there's a reason? Why would they be targeting her out of everyone? Maybe you don't know her as well as you think."

Kameron sighed.

"Look, if you'll stay at the park for a few minutes after Riley goes, I'll come and show you the note as proof that I'm not kidding you. Nobody would have the decency to lie about something like this. Please, just stick around, and don't forget anything I said."

With that, Kameron hung up.

Lucas slowly lowered the phone and walked back over to Riley.

"Is everything okay?" Riley asked hesitantly, noticing Lucas's expression change.

"Yeah…" Lucas swallowed. "But I think you should go. I'm… I'm about to go home too. It's getting dark."

Riley couldn't help but feel a pang of something in her chest. She didn't know what, but it hurt.

"Oh… okay…" she said. She slowly began to walk away from Lucas. She felt her eyebrows begin to rise like she did when she cried, but she shook it off.

Lucas stood where he was and awaited Kameron's arrival. He was right. Why would these rumors be spread about her, of all people, just for the fun of it? Something wasn't right here, and Lucas needed to find out.

* * *

**This was my longest chapter thus far, and hopefully the next one will be even longer! A lot's gonna go down. Please leave your thoughts on the chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I don't think I could ever express how sorry I am for the lack of updates, and how sorry I am that some of you were actually counting on me updating.**

**But I'm back and am going to continue the story, finally!**

**Disclaimer: GMW isn't mine. Sadly.**

* * *

Something was wrong.

Riley wasn't stupid. As she walked home, she reflected on what had just happened. Lucas was so dismissive of her… what had Kameron said to him?

She knew what she had to do. She hated it, but she knew she had to do something. Maybe Kameron had lied to him. Maybe Kameron had told him he had the note.

When she got home, she was relieved to see Kameron standing in the living room, though he looked like he was preparing to leave.

"Kameron, you can't show him the note," Riley said immediately upon seeing him.

"Sorry, Riley, too little, too late," Kameron said, slipping a hoodie overtop his white t-shirt.

"_Please_," she said pleadingly. Kameron merely brushed past her and headed towards the door, leaving her staring at the kitchen wall.

"I'll play your game," she said.

"…I beg your pardon?" Kameron said, stopping and turning towards Riley.

"I said," started Riley, hesitantly turning around towards him, "I'll play your game."

Kameron gave a satisfactory smile.

"Great," he said. "Now, if you'd lend me your phone so I can tell Lucas not to wait for me to show, we'll get started."

~.x.x.x.~

When Maya reached her home, she immediately collapsed on her bed.

Kameron suggesting that she self-harmed was completely unnecessary. However, she did have the feeling she was coming down with something. It could be the flu, or it could just be her horrendous mental state breaking her down.

Maya slipped out of her denim school clothes and into a comfortable gown. She covered herself with her bed sheets and stared at the ceiling.

Tears began to slowly trickle down her face, but she didn't stop them; she simply acted as though the tears weren't even there. She had done a bad, bad thing. She needed Riley, and she needed her now.

And her terrible actions had led to so many consequences that only backlashed on her. You reap what you sew, right? She had no clue what she was thinking. She didn't even know if she _was _thinking. And she was so scared that her relationship with Riley was, at this point, irreparable.

And now, she had something else to be afraid of—Kameron. He seemed harmless at first, but something had his eyes on Riley, like a predator and its prey. She had tried watching out for Riley, and that had led to its consequences, like Kameron getting in her own business and what he'd done to her in the car.

On the ride home, he'd murmured accusatory phrases under his breath for only her to hear. Maya had gotten so _fed up_ with hearing over and over that she "ruined Riley's life", isn't "all that high and mighty" like she thinks she is, and is a literal "spawn of Satan."

So she told him to stop—she moreover insisted that he stop, loudly, and he responded with flinging his fist into her arm.

She had tried watching out for Riley with Kameron, and regardless of Kameron's torment in her direction, she wasn't stopping.

It was what a good best friend did, even if she hadn't been one as of late. But it didn't make anything better.

Nothing was right. What was she to do about it?

She continued to lie, continued to cry, continued to mope, because for the life of her, she didn't know what to do.

And she hated it.

~.x.x.x.~

Lucas's Tuesday morning started more slowly than ever.

He couldn't tell how he was feeling. It was like his entire being was at war.

He really, really liked Riley, and he trusted her with everything he had. Or did he? What if Kameron was right, and he really didn't know her as well as he thought he did? Kameron did have the evidence against her, which he hadn't yet seen Kameron had nevertheless been making some good points.

What was he saying? He literally told the entire school just a few days earlier that Riley had done nothing wrong, and she truly hadn't. He _knew _her. He did. Right?

He tried to put it out of his mind as he washed his face and combed back his hair, but he couldn't. It was far too important.

But how was he supposed to act towards Riley now? Towards Kameron? Should he act like nothing changed? Did anything actually change?

He figured he just wouldn't think. He'd let things happened until he figured this out, because who the real enemy was to him could only truly be determined by him.

His new daily routine had consisted of riding the subway every morning and afternoon with Riley to not only protect her but to just be with her.

Still keeping in mind what Kameron had told him, Lucas grabbed his bag, left his house, and headed towards the subway station.

He was overcome with worry when Riley wasn't there. She could have just let her dad take her to school that day, but she would have told him… right?

He let the subway they usually caught pass just to text her asking where she was. He could be a little late to school, long as it meant making sure Riley was okay. Maybe she was just late.

But when he didn't get a response within ten minutes after he sent the text, he began to truly panic. School had been put out of his mind as he left the station and sprinted to Riley's.

Once he got there, he quickly lifted himself from balcony to balcony, jumping ape-style until he reached Riley's window. Where it was usually open, it was closed, but nothing was stopping him from getting to her. Praying it was unlocked, he pushed it open, and was relieved when it was.

"Riley?" he called, lowering himself into her room. Her door was shut and the lights were all off, but there was a lump in Riley's bed.

"Riley?" he repeated once more, nearing towards her bed. He gently lowered his hands onto the peak of her covers and lifted abruptly, completely removing them from the figure.

He was able to make out that this was definitely Riley, but it didn't seem like her. She was curled up into a ball, tightly, face barely visible, but she seemed to be whispering to herself.

"Riley…" Lucas said softly, moving his hands to touch her shoulders. They immediately jutted out of his grasp, and her whispers became more audible.

"No more… no more… stop…" escaped her mouth. Lucas's eyes began to well up with tears. It didn't matter what she did or what anyone said she did, he cared about her with everything he had. What mattered right now was that something happened to his girlfriend, something really big.

"Riley..!" a half-cry escaped his lips as he laid his hands on her again, trying to grab her attention, trying to restore her in whatever way he could. But it was all to no avail, and she continued to murmur.

Tears finally began to spill out of Lucas's eyes, and he reached both of his hands out once more, this time to cup Riley's body. She looked so damaged, so broken, and he just wanted to hold her.

"NO MORE!" Riley sobbed, breaking apart from her ball-like position and sitting up. She immediately jumped away from Lucas, nearly falling off of her bed in doing so. Her eyes looked so blank and cloudy, and they searched Lucas skeptically until she was able to register that he was Lucas, and he knew when she did. He pulled her into his grasp, letting her fall against his chest, but still, the whispers continued.

"Please… stop… no more…"

* * *

**Please let me know how you felt about this chapter! Every review helps immensely.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Is it bad that I write _during _school?**

**I don't remember how long the other chapters are exactly, but I'm 93.62% sure that this one is the longest thus far.**

**So enjoy! Please!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned GMW, season 2 episodes would have been released to Netflix the day after they aired. So I don't.**

* * *

I don't know what I'm doing here.

Ever since he almost killed me, I haven't been me.

I've been using my intelligence for evil.

Before this, I was homeless. I stole things, that's how I survived. I mastered the art of theft. And that plus my damaged memories, I guess, made me evil.

I'm not a horrible person, though, I keep trying to tell myself. I still try to sneak into one of the local churches in whatever city I find myself in every Sunday. All the churches I've been to have all been huge. I've always sat in the very back, just so nobody tries to get me involved in the church. I may be a terrible person, but I know it's important to have Him in my life. Maybe He can help me.

But for now, I have the upper hand over everyone. Only I can heal myself.

Yesterday, I did a bad thing.

I love having the advantage, though, I mean, I always have the advantage. I love it when people are afraid of me.

What's the scariest thing a person can first-handedly endure? There's loss, but I couldn't do that, so torture was my alternative.

That game I had, where I'd give Riley the note if she did five things I asked, well, she agreed to play it. She still had four things left to do for me.

So I traumatized her. I hurt her, physically and sexually, and she was pleading for me to stop before I even gave her the fifth thing to do. At that point, it would've been too inhumane to continue. I gave her the note back regardless of the fact that she didn't do her last thing.

Did I take my anger out on her? How does making a person cry make me feel good?

I'm making an effort, but until I can get a job or whatever to legally support myself, I don't think I can change. Not yet.

So, that's it. I'll write more later. Or not.

Kameron read over the words he had just written on the white notebook paper, and then he frowned. He swiftly crafted the paper into a paper airplane, and then he threw it where it assumed a long and far course.

Kameron climbed down from the tree he resided on and landed back in the park. Maybe he should move on, he thought. He'd caused a lot of trouble here already. Maybe it was time to go if he had any chance of regaining the purity he once had.

He retrieved Riley's diary from his brown makeshift backpack (which was just a simple satchel) that hung over his chest and heaved a sigh. He looked the diary over, contemplating why it was he still had it. Slowly, he pushed it back into his bag and headed back over to the Matthews' apartment.

~.x.x.x.~

Maya furrowed her brows when Riley, Lucas, and Kameron were all missing from their seats.

Cory taught his lesson nonchalantly, today about how evil has impacted history and how turning from evil has benefitted it, but Maya couldn't seem to focus. All that was on her mind was Riley and her whereabouts. She did also care about where Lucas may be, but the facts that the three of them were all missing and Riley had been unstable recently made Maya feel like something was happening that involved the three of them, and that Riley might be in trouble.

Maya turned to Farkle in desperation, hoping he was thinking the same thing, and relief filled her body when she noticed that Farkle's eyes were pinned to Riley's empty chair rather than Cory.

"Now, can anyone tell me why evil being brought into things tends to wreck it?" asked Mr. Matthews.

Contrary to what Maya assumed would happen, Farkle's hand shot up. She mentally cursed herself for thinking that something could stop Farkle from not being engaged, even something like this.

Farkle didn't even have to be called on before he spoke.

"Evil negatively impacts everything around it, including people. It's like a virus; it spreads, until everyone turns on each other and destroy one another."

Cory nodded.

"That's right, Farkle, but there is one more thing that bringing evil into things can cause. Anyone?"

Surprisingly, Maya's hand shot up before Farkle's.

"Maya… this is a first. Yes?"

Riley flashed in Maya's head. Maya was the evil, and Maya left her in pieces. The guilt flooded her voice as she spoke.

"Evil doesn't always spread… because some people will always be good people. But for those people, if the evil's too strong… then they break."

Cory flashed Maya a sincere look.

"Exactly, Maya. Good job."

Maya gave Cory a small smile in return.

"Evil impacts everything, as Farkle said—the bad, the neutral, and the good. Evil can lead to war, but it can also lead to severe damage. History shows it, psychology shows it, and even this very school shows it."

The bell suddenly rang and students didn't waste their time packing up and rushing out of class hastily. Farkle and Maya packed slower than they usually did so they could have an excuse to chat.

"What do you think happened to them?" Maya asked Farkle subtly as soon as the other students had all left.

"Evil," Farkle said simply.

"What do you mean?" Maya said, slipping her bag over her shoulder and following Farkle as he headed for the door.

"It's like he said. There's evil going around. And like _I_ said, it destroys everyone. It's not one person missing today; it's three."

With that, Farkle quickly pushed out of the room. Maya lingered for a moment, noticing Cory sitting at his desk presumably grading papers. Looking around, she hustled to his desk.

"Where's Riley?" Maya asked.

"She's home sick today," Cory said, looking up at Maya from his papers.

"Mr. Matthews, I need to see her." Cory smiled.

"Then you're free to go. Just try to come back later. With Riley," he said, that all-knowing glint in his eyes.

"Thank you," Maya said, hurrying out of his classroom and out of the school building shortly thereafter.

~.x.x.x.~

Riley sat in the warm bathwater, just staring straight ahead. So much had happened, and she was even surprised at what was happening right now.

Lucas lifted her left arm, pulling the bathing suit strap that had just tumbled down her bicep back up to her shoulder. He soaped his hands and began to carefully rub her arm, and then he moved to her back.

He'd been the one who suggested this. He'd been the only one talking, as a matter of fact. She hadn't said a word since she was stuck in a dazed reality after what Kameron had done, mumbling for him to stop, for everything to stop. Lucas carefully lifted his shirt from his head and removed his jeans from his legs, not having to worry much about being half-nude in front of her because Riley wouldn't look at him anyway. He cautiously slid behind Riley in the tub to get a better angle at her back, shoulders, and hair.

He lathed her hair with a fruity and floral-smelling shampoo, but he hesitated when she finally spoke.

"You don't have to do this," she murmured.

"I'm here to take care of you, Riley," he responded, reaching over her to grab a cup and fill it with water and wash out her hair. He then reached around her again to put the cup down and grab the conditioner, which, he then rubbed into her hair and washed out like he did the shampoo.

He stood, letting the water out of the tub and reaching down to lift Riley by the elbows up from the tub. He looked around for a towel, which he easily found on a nearby rack. He wrapped it around her and held her shoulders, escorting her back to her room.

Once he placed her on her bed, he perused her closets for something for her to wear. He settled for a longer T-shirt and leggings, something she could wear out in public but also comfortably fall asleep in. He felt invasive and a bit awkward for searching her drawers for underwear, but she again didn't seem to care, so he retrieved a pair quickly and tucked it into the clothes he already picked out.

"I'm going to get dressed. Will you please get dressed too?" Lucas said, holding the clothes he picked in front of her. She gave a small nod, taking the clothes from Lucas's hands. He slipped out of her room and shut the door, making his way back to the bathroom where he re-clothed himself with his shirt and jeans that he had taken off minutes earlier. He then made his way back to Riley's door and gently knocked.

"Can I come in?" he asked. He didn't know if she would even respond, so he was definitely a little happier when she gave a small "yeah" from the other side of the door.

He slowly turned the door's handle and opened it to see a now clothed Riley on her bed, though she was still holding the towel around her shoulders. Her hair was ragged after being washed, so Lucas hurried back to the bathroom to grab a comb and returned to Riley's room, where her sitting position had not been changed.

He sat behind her, only able to comfortably do so by curling his legs around her, which she didn't seem to mind, though he was trying to be careful because he had no idea what had been done to her.

Starting at the tips of her hair, he spent about five minutes making his way upwards and leaving her hair smooth in its damp state. Lucas began to stand up to put the comb back when he felt a hand on his ankle.

"Don't go," Riley said.

"…Alright," Lucas said, shifting himself back down next to her. He twiddled with the comb in his hands as he waited—for what he was waiting for, however, he had no idea.

"Thank you," said Riley quietly, pulling the towel even tighter around her shoulders and arms.

"No problem, Riley," Lucas responded. He fidgeted with the comb a little more before setting it by Riley's window and returning back to where she sat.

Lucas tried not to look at her. She looked so pitiful, so empty, but still so scared. He stared out the window before speaking.

"Can you talk about what happened?"

Riley shifted her head sideways to rest the side of it on her knees.

"I want to," she said softly, "but I can't."

Lucas nodded, brushing her shoulder lightly with his hand.

"When you can… I'm right here," he said. Even without looking at her, he was sure that she nodded.

Suddenly, there came a sound from the living room. Lucas and Riley both jumped, heads now upright and senses all alert. Neither of them could make out what the noise was. They both concluded that it was just their imagination.

However, just as the two calmed back down, the door opened. Just as the door opened, a figure slid through the open window. Simultaneously, the person who opened the door entered the bedroom.

Lucas stood immediately, instinctively moving in front of Riley to shield her from the two people. Lucas was, however, shoved out of the way seconds later. What he was surprised about was that the person who shoved him was Riley.

She moved to stand on the floor in between the two people. The towel now rested on the bed. Lucas, now unable to easily reach her, knew he had to do something.

"Riley—" he warned.

"Hello, Maya, Kameron," Riley said. "Nice of you to join us today."

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**I hope you guys aren't getting annoyed with the subtle cliffhangers. Don't worry, I'll either take a break from the cliffhangers or make the next one huge. :D**

**I hope you liked the chapter! Reviews help more than you know.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I'm very glad that school for me is now over—it means more writing time!**

**I'm pretty dang surprised that I started writing this when the characters were in seventh grade, and now, they're starting ninth.**

**I hate myself in the way that I gain inspiration for other things really quickly, so when I hop back to my unfinished stories, I totally forget where in the world I was going with it.**

**Like here.**

**So hopefully this turns out how I hoped it would!**

**Disclaimer: Things would probably be a lot different if I owned GMW. Therefore, I don't.**

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A chilly silence filled the air as Kameron and Maya stood still. Lucas looked at Riley, who was also standing still, and admired her for her bravery—with what the two had done to her, he was surprised she was able to get anywhere near them.

Riley turned around to Lucas, biting the inside of her cheek.

"Maybe you shouldn't be here, Lucas," she said, eyes blank.

Lucas frowned. If Riley thought for a second that he wasn't going to be here when she needed him, she thought wrong.

"Riley, I'm not leaving you alone with them," Lucas declared, and Riley looked down to the ground and back up at him, giving him a small nod. Maya had turned to Lucas slightly, a bit of hurt in her eyes, recognizing that Lucas was afraid she'd hurt Riley again if he wasn't around. It broke her apart.

Riley turned around to stand in between Kameron and Maya, to where if she turned slightly, she could meet either one of their gazes.

"Why are you here?" she asked quietly to neither of the two in particular.

"You weren't at school," Maya replied, voice cracking, "I had to make sure you were okay."

Riley's eyes remained blank at this, and Lucas stood away from the group, overlooking the conversation, entirely unconvinced of Maya's motives. However, Riley was trying to understand her, and wanted to understand, but also had other things to deal with—Kameron, that was.

Riley looked down and then turned slightly, looking up at Kameron.

"And you?" she asked, her watering eyes cold.

Kameron looked at her, her coldness, her brokenness, heart screeching from having been part of the cause of it all. He slowly held her diary up to her, not breaking eye contact. Riley looked down at it, then back up at him.

"Why?" she asked, frowning, eyes glossy.

"I couldn't keep it," he said, shaking it so she'd take it. When she didn't, he set it on her dresser.

"I don't understand," Riley said, eying him up and down. When he responded with silence, she continued with, "you've enjoyed hurting me. Why would you give this back?"

His eyes now reflected Riley's in its glossiness. He held his breath and looked down, seeming to be contemplating something in his head. He nodded to himself, seeming to have made a decision, and he held up his right hand for Riley to see. He grabbed his pinky finger and pulled. It came off.

Lucas's mouth shot open. Maya jumped. Riley just stared, her facial expression turning into one of shock and confusion.

"I almost got stabbed in the chest once," Cameron said, facial expression stone-like, clearly trying to hold back his feelings. "I stopped it from happening with my hand… but my pinky got cut off instead."

Riley frowned, shaking her head. She wanted to continue to be angry at him, to be afraid of him, but now, as he stood before her, vulnerable as ever, what was there to be afraid of? Riley automatically began to feel empathetic as her selfless nature caused her to.

As Kameron put his pinky finger back on, silent tears began to spill down his cheeks.

"It was my dad," he said, voice cracking, "he hurt me." Kameron looked down, averting everyone's gazes that were all fixed upon him. He shook his head, looking back up at Riley.

"He's the reason I'm an orphan. He's the reason that I never get a good night's sleep. And he's the reason that I hurt you."

Tears began to escape Riley's eyes as well. For some reason, she felt the urge to apologize. His situation was unimaginable. Maybe, instead of playing the victim, she should have thought about his point of view… but when she looked over to Maya and then to Lucas, Lucas shot her a look that told her she had every right to act the way she had when Kameron hurt her.

After all, Kameron was the villain. He did hurt her. How was she to know that he was in such a dark place? But, still, she saw the good in everyone. She wanted to fix everything for him. She wanted to help him change.

"I want to change, but I can't," Kameron cried, seeming to have read her mind.

"I can help you. I can help you change," Riley whimpered, not taking the time to wipe her eyes.

"No, I don't think so," he responded, the tracks of water falling from his chin to the floor. He looked down at his feet and then back up at her, sincerity glistening in his tearful eyes.

"I am so, so sorry for hurting you. I can't change that I have to steal, but I can change that I hurt people."

Riley cried with a nod, accepting his apology.

"It's time for me to leave now," Kameron said, his vulnerability shining. Riley, for whatever reason, didn't want him to go, but couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Thank you for your hospitality," he said quickly before wiping his tears and ducking out of her room, his hard footsteps audible. Riley opened her mouth to speak, to call after him, but he was gone.

Helpless and face tear-stricken, Riley turned to Maya. Maya looked at Riley, her eyebrows turned upwards in sorrow. She was preparing herself for Riley to lash out on her or to admit to her how much she had been hurt by her. Maya wasn't ready to hear how much she had hurt Riley. She already knew.

It took Maya by surprise what Riley said next.

"How… terrible," Riley sobbed.

Maya nodded, and Riley, still crying, lunged into her. Maya wrapped her arms around her best friend, starting to cry as well. As Riley sobbed into her shoulder, Maya said repeatedly, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

The two continued to cry in each other's arms for a while. Lucas had excused himself to mop up the bathroom from where he had bathed Riley earlier, leaving Maya and Riley to hold each other alone.

When Riley and Maya stopped crying tears that had been building up for weeks, Riley broke away. She looked down at her best friend and said, "I missed you."

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**I believe this story is coming to a close!**

**How did you like the chapter? What do you think will happen next?**

**Every review helps me more than you know. Please review!**


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